GUIDANCE FOR JUDGES

Sentencing Standards Would Help Fix Broken System

There's much to like about the new sentencing structure approved by the
Alabama Sentencing Commission last week.

For starters, judges will have better guidelines to follow in deciding what
punishment to hand out. This would make sentences more uniform statewide,
reducing some of the discrepancies from court to court in the length of
prison sentences for the same crimes. The guidelines even come with
worksheets and a point system to help judges figure sentences and stay in
line with other courts.

Second, the guidelines are voluntary; a judge can follow them for most
crimes but isn't bound by them in extraordinary cases. A big problem with
the state's habitual offender law and many of the drug laws is that they
tie the hands of judges by mandating certain punishments which too often
don't fit the crimes.

Plus, minimum sentences for certain drug and property crimes would be
lowered to more reasonable levels, while sentencing for more serious crimes
such as murder, rape and robbery would remain about the same. Lowering the
minimums for nonviolent offenders while remaining tough on violent
criminals should help ease prison crowding.

The new sentencing standards are part of a package of proposed sentencing
reforms the commission has been working on for the past four years and will
present to the state Legislature this year. It will be up to lawmakers to
decide if the reforms are adopted or tossed aside like many reforms
proposed over the years.

Legislators mustn't fail this time.

Of course, not everyone likes the guidelines. Some worry that by lowering
minimum sentences, the proposals would be seen as too soft on crime.
Others, noting that the prison population has quadrupled over the past 25
years, complain the commission didn't go far enough in curtailing overly
punitive sentences. One commissioner, Circuit Court Judge Pete Johnson, who
runs Jefferson County's drug court, resigned in frustration that he
couldn't get the commission to be more aggressive in reducing sentences.

That's unfortunate. The commission needs his perspective, especially as
someone whose program has successfully diverted hundreds of drug offenders
away from prison.

What the commission needs just as much, however, is lawmakers with the
courage to reject the soft-on-crime label and reform a broken sentencing system.